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June 8, 2011

G61: Red Sox 11, Yankees 6

The Red Sox struck for three first-inning runs for the second night in a row - David Ortiz's two-run bomb to right-center (sans bat flip) was the big blow - and clobbered the Yankees, taking sole possession of first place.

Boston capped the night with a quick three-run burst with two outs in the top of the ninth: Carl Crawford homered, Marco Scutaro doubled, and J.D. Drew homered.

Tim Wakefield (5.1-5-5-3-3, 91) won his 182nd career game as a member of the Red Sox. He is only 11 wins away from becoming the all-time team leader in wins.

Jacoby Ellsbury singled to start the game, stole second and took third when catcher Francisco Cervelli's throw went into center field, and scored on Adrian Gonzalez's ground out. Kevin Youkilis walked and Ortiz hit his 15th dong of the year.

In the second, Scutaro singled and - in a repeat of the previous inning - stole second and raced to third when Cervelli's throw sailed into center. He scored on Drew's sac fly.

Ortiz walked to start the fourth and Crawford singled. After Scutaro grounded out, Drew was walked intentionally to load the bases. One run scored on Jason Varitek's grounder, then Ellsbury doubled in a run and Dustin Pedroia singled in another.

With two outs in the sixth, Varitek walked. Burnett was yanked and Boone Logan took over. He allowed a single to Ellsbury, then walked Pedroia and Gonzalez to force in a run.

The loss of Daisuke Matsuzaka has given Wakefield a golden chance to close in on the Red Sox's wins record of 192, shared by Cy Young and Fat Billy. Wakefield has 181 Red Sox wins. Exactly one year ago, he became the Red Sox's all-time leader in innings pitched, and has now thrown 2,894.1 innings for Boston.

Peter Abraham has a blog post about Wakefield and Derek Jeter, who have faced each other 127 times (including post-season games):

That's the most Wakefield has faced any batter and the most Jeter has faced any pitcher. ... They first met on July 15, 1996 at Fenway Park. ... Every other player who got in that game has retired.

Abraham did not provide a link to the results of those 127 meetings, so I will do it.

I've been "this day in us vs. the team we're currently playing history" for the last few days and I think 4 was the low, and that's against two of the original AL teams. Gotta figure if you can go 4 for 111 you can go 0 for 111.

Not only did the Sox win and take first place in the AL East, but they now have the best record in the entire American League, and the third best record in the majors (1.5 GB of Phillies and Cardinals).